The Everton Academy is on the up

The last regular first teamer produced by the academy is Antony Gordon. Sadly, due to our financial situation, we had to sell him to stay afloat.  That was January 2023.

In the meantime, we’ve not really had anyone knocking on the door of the first team.  Ellis Simms probably came closest, but at 24 he’s now a substitute at Coventry City in the Championship which tells its own story.  There have been calls (out of desperation more than anything else) for a few others who are now plying their trade in the lower leagues.

There’s been bad luck too, of course, since our financial situation meant we also sold three of our best in Ishe Samuels-Smith, Lawrence and Lienou to Chelsea and City respectively.  Samuels-Smith is the classiest home-grown player I can recall seeing in the academy set up for years – and even though England didn’t have an especially good U17 World Cup in 2023, Samuels-Smith made team of the tournament.

Now 19, Ishe Samuels-Smith would surely be poised to take over from Mykolenko had he never left.  After a really weird summer for him (sold by Chelsea to sister club Strasbourg and then bought back), he’s now at Swansea on loan.  And so we have Aznou, also 19, as the junior left back instead.  

Lawrence (also 19) is completely crowded out by other talent at City and nowhere near their first team.  Lienou (now 17) managed less than 18 months at City and is now in the Leeds U21 set up.  They’d probably all have been better off staying at Everton.

Thierry Small, whom we pinched from West Brom, looked promising at one point too of course – but fell away sharply after leaving for Southampton.  Now 21, he joined Preston on a free this summer and might be getting his career back on track.

That departure of talent helped balance the books but robbed us of quality also. Although there have been a few overly hopeful false dawns, it looks like we have a handful coming through with genuine first-team potential.

And with all of this, I hasten to add this isn’t my view (which doesn’t count for a right lot), it’s the view of the professional, independent people running the England youth set up.  In recent years we have had pretty much no-one represented throughout the age groups U16 to U21.  A few exceptions but not many.  I’m writing this article because I have noticed that is starting to change.

We now have:

Armstrong (18) – consistently selected for England U18 and England U19.

Lukjanciks (17) – consistently selected all through England U16, U17, U18 and now U19 level.

Olayiwola (16) – consistently selected for England U15, U16 and now U17 level.

Gokah (16) – representing England U17 (and capped since U15 level) – although he’s not home grown (to the extent that matters).

Nsangou (15) – representing England U16 (and capped by Poland at U15 level).

Doughty (15) – representing England U16.

This is significant. It really hasn’t been like this for absolutely ages and it does matter.  While we all think we can spot a player, the reality is it’s very difficult to judge players at U18 level and U21 level because the standard of football is so poor.  Players destined for careers in the 3rd and 4th tier can stand out in U21 football. Players destined for careers in the Championship and above tend to be those selected by England (or equivalent) at youth international level. 

We haven’t had this depth of representation for years (although players like Welch, Dixon and Campbell have all managed some intermittent caps or squad selection).  As an aside, I could see Olayiwola and possibly Nsangou making their debut in a dead rubber at the end of the season.

We’ve also got players representing the likes of Northern Ireland (Graham), Scotland (Loney) and Wales (Morgan, Pita and Thomas).  This is quite encouraging of itself – but you just can’t read as much into their international caps as you can for the exceptionally competitive England youth set up.

Taken together, this bodes really well.  History suggests that not all of these players will become first teamers for Everton – but the chance of 2 or 3 of the 6 named above nailing regular first team spots is pretty decent.  Harrison Armstrong already looks like a strong contender – and should come back from ready to take up a spot in our first team squad for next season.  That would be a fitting route, following in the footsteps of Antony Gordon (and also Jordan Pickford who came to prominence on loan at Preston after impressing in the England youth set up right through the age groups).  Then it's up to the others to kick on, progress on loan as most do unless they are truly exceptional, and work their way into contention.

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